Prison Reform Trust briefing

Transforming lives: Reducing women’s imprisonment

Too many women, many of whom are mothers, are sent to prison every year to serve short sentences for non-violent crimes, often for a first offence, a new Prison Reform Trust (PRT) briefing reveals.

The briefing marks the launch of a drive by the Prison Reform Trust, supported by a £1.2 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund, to reduce the number of women who are sent to prison for minor non-violent offences.

Last Thursday (23 July) the Justice Minister Caroline Dinenage reaffirmed the government’s commitment to reducing the number of women in prison in its response to the cross-party Justice Committee’s report and recommendations on women offenders.

Two thirds of women sent to prison are mums and over 17,000 children are separated from their mothers by imprisonment every year. Imprisonment has a devastating impact on the life chances of these children, who as a result are more likely to experience homelessness, disruption to their family and home lives, problems at school and local authority care. Women released from custody are more likely to reoffend, and reoffend quicker, than women serving community sentences.

One woman former offender with an eight year old boy said: “Once you come to prison you’ve got that hanging over you for the rest of your life… it’s like a stigma. It follows you around. It’s hard to get a job, a bank account when you can’t prove the last 3 years of your history…little things like that. Having a criminal record is always going to affect your life.”

The three-year UK-wide programme Transforming lives: Reducing women’s imprisonment will promote more effective, early intervention and non-custodial responses to women in trouble, working with national and local governments, statutory agencies, and voluntary and community sector organisations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The new programme will also have a base with Families Outside in Edinburgh, an independent charity working to support prisoners’ families.

· Theft and handling offences are the biggest single driver to custody for women.

· Women serving custodial sentences are twice as likely as men (21% v 10%) to have no previous convictions or cautions.

· More than half (53%) of women in prison report having experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child, compared to 27% of men

· Women in prison are more than three times as likely to be identified as suffering from depression as women in the general population (65% v 19%).

· In 2014, women accounted for 26% of all self-harm incidents in prison in England and Wales despite representing only 5% of the prison population.

· Fewer than one in ten women leave custody with a job to go to, most face mounting debt and struggle to find safe housing.

PRT will identify and encourage the spread of good practice in working with women in contact with the criminal justice system, gathering and disseminating evidence to underpin innovation, and ensuring that the voices of often-marginalised women are heard in the corridors of power. PRT’s work with the Soroptimists, reflected in the report Transforming Lives, provides a solid foundation for this three year programme.

Police diversion initiatives and cost-effective community sentences enable women to take control of their lives, care for their children and address the causes of their offending. Profiling the positive outcomes of these approaches will help to spread good practice and reduce the unnecessary and expensive use of remand and short custodial sentences.

There are opportunities to accelerate the pace of policy and practice change. Already in Scotland the decision to build a new women’s prison has been reversed in favour of small custodial units and community-based provision.

In England and Wales, the new duty on the Secretary of State for Justice (in section 10 Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014) to identify and address the specific needs of women offenders should deliver better outcomes for women. In Northern Ireland a new step-down facility is being provided for women leaving prison.

Jenny Earle, director of the PRT’s programme to reduce women’s imprisonment, said

“I am looking forward to working with partners across the UK to accelerate progress in reforming women’s justice and reducing reliance on prison. We need to listen to women with experience of the justice system and take seriously the mounting evidence that short periods of imprisonment are particularly destructive for women and the families who rely on them.”

Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“Most of the solutions to women’s offending lie outside prison walls in treatment for addictions and mental health problems, protection from domestic violence, safer housing, debt management, education, skills development and employment. The support of the Big Lottery Fund will enable us to lead a concerted drive to reduce the wasteful imprisonment of women and limit the devastating impact it has on the lives of their children and families.”

Professor Nancy Loucks, Chief Executive of Families Outside, said:

“The impact on children when a family member goes to prison is significant and enduring, particularly when a mum goes to prison. Their housing may be at risk, their schooling may suffer, their care arrangements may mean they’re separated from siblings and other family. Up to a third develop serious mental health issues, and they are at higher risk of offending themselves in later life.”

Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund, said:

“We are pleased to support the Prison Reform Trust to deliver this important work, looking at some complex and challenging social issues around reducing the number of women in prison. This UK-wide project builds on a strong body of independent evidence, looking at effective interventions to help women at risk of offending address underlying issues and improve their lives.”

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A copy of the briefing Why focus on reducing women’s imprisonment? is available

· The women’s prison population in England and Wales more than doubled between 1995 and 2010, from 1,979 to 4,267. More recently the numbers have declined by 10% – from 4,279 women in April 2012 to 3,841 in April 2015.

· In Scotland the female prison population doubled between 2002 and 2012,[1] with an average daily women’s prison population in 2013-14 of 431. In Northern Ireland, the average weekly women’s prison population has increased year-on-year, rising from 22 in 2003 to 56 in 2012. At 31 March 2014, there were 72 women and girls in prison.[2]

· Women entering prison are more likely to have been imprisoned for non-violent offences. Eight in ten (81%) women entering prison under an immediate custodial sentence had committed non-violent offences, compared to seven in ten men (71%).

· Theft and handling offences are the biggest single driver to custody for women.

· Women in prison are highly likely to be victims as well as offenders. More than half (53%) report having experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child, compared to 27% of men.

· Women prisoners are far more likely to be primary carers of children. Six in ten women in prison had (on average two) dependent children. One fifth are lone parents before imprisonment. In 2010, more than 17,000 children were separated from their mothers by imprisonment. Fewer than one in ten children whose mother is in prison is cared for by their father,[3] whereas most children with an imprisoned father remain with their mother.[4]

· Mental health problems are more prevalent among women in prison. Women in prison are nearly twice times as likely as men in prison to be identified as suffering from depression (65% vs. 37%) and more than three times as likely as women in the general population (19%).

· Women are disproportionately likely to harm themselves whilst in prison. In 2014, women accounted for 26% of all self-harm incidents in prison in England and Wales despite representing only 5% of the prison population.

· Women entering prison are disproportionately likely to be serving short sentences. In 2014, more than 4,000 women entered prison on sentences of 6 months or less. 71% of all women entering prison under an immediate custodial sentence in 2014 were on sentences of less than 12 months. For males the proportion was 55%.

· The effects on women’s lives continue to be felt after their release. Over 30% of women lose their accommodation, and often their possessions, while in prison. Women are much less likely than men to have positive employment outcomes on release from prison (8% v 27%).

· Women are more likely than men to be in prison under sentence for a first offence. At 30th June 2013, sentenced women were twice as likely as men (21% v 10%) to have no previous convictions or cautions.

· Short sentences have the worst reoffending outcomes. More than half (51%) of all women leaving prison are reconvicted within 12 months – for those serving sentences of less than 12 months, the reconviction rate rises to 62%. Women released from custody are also more likely to reoffend, and reoffend quicker, than women serving community sentences.[5]

· This project has been supported through the Big Lottery Fund’s UK portfolio. In deciding to award the grant, the Fund reviewed a vast body of evidence regarding the effectiveness of custody for women and consulted many organisations across the justice sector. The capacity of the Prison Reform Trust to manage a project of this nature was also an important consideration.